December, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

All Six Nebraska Racetracks To Seek Casinos After Commission’s Initial Rules Approval

This Friday, the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission voted to approve rules for casinos at the state's horse racing tracks, according to the Lincoln Journal-Star. The rules must be signed off on by the state attorney general and governor, then will go to the Secretary of State before becoming effective.

“This is kind of a very historic moment today in the history of Nebraska racing,” Dennis Lee, chairman of the Nebraska commission, said at Friday's meeting.

The Journal-Star reports that all six of the state's racetracks—located in Lincoln, Omaha, South Sioux City, Columbus, Grand Island and Hastings—will seek to add casinos.

Nebraskan voters first approved a constitutional amendment allowing casinos at the racetracks in November of 2020. No decision has been made about sports betting in the state.

Read more at the Lincoln Journal-Star.

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Jockey Of The Month: Pablo Morales Continues Living The Dream With New Personal Best

From 2017-2019, Pablo Morales rode 200 or more winners a year while establishing a personal-best earnings mark of $4,053,906 in 2019.

Despite those accomplishments, no one could predict the outcome when Morales left Tampa Bay Downs last December to compete at Aqueduct, known for its high purse money and strong jockey colony. And more than a few observers clucked “I told you so” when Morales started the 2020-2021 winter meeting at “The Big A” with only two victories from 53 mounts.

Behind his youthful, placid face, though, lies a steely determination to succeed. Morales (who had ridden four winners at Aqueduct during a “trial run” in early November of 2020) rebounded from his slow start to finish ninth in the winter meeting standings with 24 winners, including three stakes victories.

“I don't think I killed it, but I probably won enough races that people noticed,” Morales said.

That experience set the table for Morales to dominate this year's Presque Isle Downs meeting in Erie, Pa., where he rode 120 winners, 76 more than the runner-up. The 33-year-old product of Lima, Peru won with 32.2 percent of his mounts, a staggering figure for a 15-week meeting.

Morales has returned home for the 2021-2022 Tampa Bay Downs meeting, eager to see if he can challenge for a title among Oldsmar's deep colony. He has done nothing to disappoint his supporters early, winning nine races from his first 31 mounts to earn the Salt Rock Tavern Jockey of the Month Award.

Morales has also set a new personal single-season earnings mark in 2021 of $4.12-million-plus.

Agent Paula Bacon, for one, looks for the good times to continue.

“I think his confidence is better than ever, and that has gotten him even further,” said Bacon, a retired jockey. “He's confident in his decisions, and he has real good judgment. And I don't think anyone can out-finish him.”

Morales, who in recent years has turned to training in the ring with a boxing instructor to keep strong, believes he is at the peak of his skills. But he isn't taking anything for granted, aware of the dedication needed to stay at his current level.

“I love winning and I love racing. That is the thing I know how to do best,” said Morales, who has 2,268 career victories and has ridden at least 100 winners each year since 2010. “My goal, really, is maintaining – being able to keep working, hopefully keep getting titles and having a better season than before.

“My dream was always to come to the United States and be a jockey, and I get to live it and get the benefits of giving my family (wife Erin and children Sophia and Camilo) a good life.”

In the meantime, his quick start aside, Morales will keep fine-tuning the staying power that made 2021 such an excellent year and is reflected in so many of his come-from-behind victories.

“I can do whatever is needed, but usually I'm a guy who likes to sit on a horse and let them do their own running early instead of riding them off their feet,” he said. “When you have some horse left underneath you, they usually give you a pretty good kick and you're able to finish strong on them.”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Younger McGaughey ‘Has A Real Passion’ For The Horses

Less than two full years after striking out on his own, trainer Reeve McGaughey is keeping the family name alive and well by sending his first graded stakes winner across the wire at Aqueduct Racetrack.

A homebred for Gainesway Stable (Antony Beck) and Andrew Rosen, 3-year-old Bees and Honey (by Union Rags) sailed clear of her rivals by 2 3/4 lengths in the Comely Stakes (G3) on Nov. 26. The victory—while not entirely unexpected by McGaughey—helped end the month on a high note for the young trainer whose budding stable is already revving up for more in 2022.

“Going into the race everyone was pretty confident because she was doing well,” said McGaughey. “We had a good feeling that she would like the distance and the racetrack. The way the race shaped up it looked like we had a chance to get black type on her and we would see what happened from there.

“It was fun, but it was almost a little bit of a relief. I certainly enjoyed it. Hopefully, there will be more wins behind it, but it was really nice to get that one.”

From an early age, there was never any real doubt that McGaughey would choose a career that led him too far from the backside. The son of Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey and the nephew of Charlie LoPresti, who trained two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan, McGaughey's life has always been inextricably tied to Thoroughbred racing.

“He is my nephew, but in the years he worked for me I don't think I had anybody that worked as hard in the barn as he did,” said LoPresti, for whom McGaughey worked as an assistant for five years. “He has a real passion for it. All the help respected him so much because he is the first one to jump in and helped. He's an incredible horseman and I was proud for him to be with me. He was like my right and left arms to tell the truth.”

After leaving LoPresti, McGaughey worked in his father Shug's barn until 2020. His decision to strike out on his own came within months of the announcement that LoPresti would retire from racing after almost 30 years—a move that would prove fortuitous for both uncle and nephew.

“It worked out well when I retired that he wanted to go out on his own, so he took most of everything that was in my barn,” said LoPresti. “The horses went, and the help went too because they respected him so much.

“His dad being a Hall of Fame trainer gave him a lot of advice, but I think the advice I had for him was to not get too big and to really concentrate on the horses. But I didn't need to tell him that. He's a hands-on horseman. That's the way he is and the way he's always been. It was a perfect fit and we're so proud of what he's accomplished.”

McGaughey's first win came July 25, 2020, when Nathan Detroit (Union Rags) broke his maiden on debut at Ellis Park. The horse was bred and owned by Joe Allen, a client of his father.

“A good portion of my clients are ones I knew from working with my dad who have also been clients of his, but I also work for a fair amount of people I didn't have a previous relationship with until I started out,” said McGaughey, who continues to build out his stable. “A couple people I work the sales for and a few just send me the horses that they have. It's a mix.”

These days, McGaughey has 25 horses in his barn split between Kentucky and Florida. Ten of those horses currently reside at Tampa Bay Downs with his assistant, while the other 15 remain at Keeneland with him. His statistics through Dec. 17 stand at 24-23-23 from 172 starts with $1,188.054 in earnings.

While Bees and Honey might be his only stakes winner to date, McGaughey feels he has plenty of promising runners to keep him busy on and off the track in the coming months. While he's happy to revel in his recent success, he has no plans to rest on his laurels.

“We have a nice 3-year-old filly who will turn 4 named Texas Shuffle (War Front). We've also got a 3-year-old turning 4 named Charles Chrome (California Chrome), he's stakes-placed and he's coming back off a freshening this winter. He's just now starting back. We also have a few young ones that haven't run yet that we're just getting going with, but they look like they'll have talent.”

“He (Reeve) knows how hard the game is. It has its ups and downs,” said LoPresti. “He's had some tough times and now he's having good times but that is the way the business is. He knows the game because he's been around it since he was a little boy, so he knows how it all works.”

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Weekend Lineup: Pegasus Prep Day At Gulfstream

This weekend's horse racing action is highlighted by a quartet of graded stakes race at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, featuring preps for the track's Pegasus World Cup card in late January. The best gambling race on the card is likely the Grade 2 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes on the grass, which drew an overflow field of 13 to contest nine furlongs.

In addition, Saturday will feature a pair of $500,000 stakes for New York-bred 2-year-olds at Aqueduct, and a pair of $100,000 stakes races for Maryland-bred or -sired 2-year-olds at Laurel Park.

Prior to all that, Kentucky Derby points are on the line in the Remington Park Springboard Mile on Friday night in Oklahoma.

Saturday

1:54 p.m. – G3 Suwannee River Stakes at Gulfstream

As Pegasus World Cup Day looms on the horizon, owners Chris Pallas and Harvey Rothenberg and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. are hoping to navigate Saturday's $100,000 Suwannee River (G3) as a way to the inaugural $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G3) next month.

Shifty She became a graded-stakes winner in her most recent start, a front-running 1 ½-length triumph in the one-mile Noble Damsel (G3) Oct. 23 at Belmont Park. It followed a summer and fall away from her South Florida home that included a third in the Aug. 8 De La Rose at Saratoga and fourth in the Sept. 11 Ladies Turf (G3) at Kentucky Downs, beaten 1 ¾ lengths each time.

There was some consideration given to training Shifty She up to the Pegasus program, scheduled this year for Jan. 29, but the Suwannee River gives the 5-year-old Gone Astray mare six weeks to the 1 1/16-mile Filly & Mare Turf and comes at a distance where she is 3-for-6 lifetime.

Sanford Bacon and Patrick Biancone Racing's Kelsey's Cross will be seeking her first win in five starts since beating Shifty She in April. The 5-year-old mare, trained by Biancone, ran third in the 2019 Wonder Again (G3) at Belmont as a 2-year-old, won the 2020 Ginger Punch and ran third in the Hillsborough (G2) as a 3-year-old, and has placed in five other stakes. Sixth in a one-mile handicap Nov. 27 at Gulfstream, her only dirt start in 23 career races, she ran fifth in last year's Suwannee River behind multiple Grade 1 winner Starship Jubilee.

Other graded winners in the field are Alms, Keeper of Time and Sweet Melania. Godolphin's Alms, a homebred daughter of City Zip, won her first four career races including the six-furlong Matron (G3) at Belmont and one-mile Jimmy Durante (G3) at Del Mar in 2019 to cap her juvenile campaign. She is winless in her last four, spread out from February 2020 to Nov. 25 at Fair Grounds, where she was beaten a neck when second in the Joseph R. Peluso Memorial. During that time she also ran third by a head in the July 2020 Appalachian (G2), which preceded a 15-month layoff.

Suwannee River Entries

3:28 p.m. – G3 Sugar Swirl Stakes at Gulfstream

Frank's Rockette will be on a quest to add another graded-stakes success to her resume Saturday at Gulfstream Park, where the Frank Fletcher Racing Operations Inc.'s homebred filly scored the first stakes victory of her racing career nearly two years ago. The 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief is scheduled to race seven other fillies and mares in the $100,000 Sugar Swirl (G3), a six-furlong sprint.

OXO Equine LLC's Center Aisle will seek her first stakes victory Saturday while coming off a pair of impressive of optional claiming and allowance victories at Churchill Downs and Keeneland in her first two starts for trainer Paulo Lobo. Formerly trained by Chad Brown, the 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief finished third behind Frank's Rockette in both the Victory Ride (G3) and Prioress (G2) last year.

Breeze Easy LLC's Bronx Beauty, who lost last year's Sugar Swirl by a head, is slated to return in the six-furlong sprint. The 5-year-old stakes-winning daughter of Liaison is coming off an Sept. 6 allowance victory at Monmouth Park.

Arindel's Quinoa Tifah, Cumberland Stables' Music City Star and Team Hanley and Paul Braverman's Loriloupies are also entered in the Sugar Swirl after finishing first, second and third, respectively, in an optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream.

Sugar Swirl Entries

3:59 p.m. – G3 Harlan's Holiday Stakes at Gulfstream

Repole Stable's Fearless will make a bid to return to graded stakes-winning form while making his second start off a six-month layoff in Saturday's $150,000 Harlan's Holiday (G3) at Gulfstream Park. Fearless is coming off a second-place finish in the Nov. 21 Miami Gardens overnight handicap, in which he lost for the first time in fourth starts at Gulfstream. The 5-year-old Ghostzapper gelding was the even-money favorite in his first start since finishing third in the May 14 Pimlico Special (G3).

Multiple graded-stakes winner Mighty Heart looms as a formidable opponent for Fearless in the Harlan's Holiday. The Lawrence Cordes homebred is coming off a front-running victory in the Autumn (G2) at Woodbine after finishing fourth in the Durham Cup (G3). The 4-year-old son of Dramedy won the 2020 Queen's Plate over Woodbine's Tapeta surface before capturing the Prince of Wales on dirt at Fort Erie. The Ontario-bred colt won the Blame Stakes at Churchill Downs, finished second in the West Virginia Governor's Cup (G3) at Mountaineer, and finished third in an optional claiming allowance at Keeneland in his other starts on dirt.

Owner/trainer Steve Budhoo's Eye of a Jedi, who finished second in last year's Harlan's Holiday, will seek to improve on a trio of recent starts at a mile around one turn. The 6-year-old gelding won the 1 1/8-mile Ghostzapper (G3) around two turns with Javier Castellano aboard last year. The Hall of Fame rider will return aboard Eye of a Jedi Saturday.

James Woodruff's Blue Steel, winner of the Claiming Crown Iron Horse Kent Sterling Memorial; Gary Barber, Wachtel Stable, Peter Deutsch and Pantofel Stable LLC's South Bend, an optional claiming allowance winner at Churchill Downs; and Calumet Farm's Twenty Twice round out the field.

Harlan's Holiday Entries

4:32 p.m. – G2 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes at Gulfstream

Already with a handful of prospects for next month's $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), a race he won in 2020, trainer Mike Maker may wind up strengthening his hand following Saturday's $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

Maker will send out two of the seven horses he nominated to the Fort Lauderdale, Atone and Media Blitz, as well as supplemental entry Order and Law. Three Diamonds Farm's Atone is a 4-year-old Into Mischief gelding with four wins in nine career tries on grass, two of them coming in his last three starts, most recently a 2 ½-length optional claiming allowance triumph Nov. 21 at Aqueduct.

Media Blitz will be making his first start since Maker spent $100,000 to claim the 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro colt for himself out of a third-place finish Nov. 26 at Del Mar. He has faced graded company twice previously this year, finishing off the board in the Del Mar Handicap (G2) and John Henry Turf Championship (G2).

Order and Law was also claimed at Del Mar, this time for $80,000 on behalf of Paradise Farms Corp. The 5-year-old gelding – whose grandsire, Shakespeare, was a multiple Grade 1 winner on turf – ran fifth in the Oct. 2 City of Hope Mile (G2) in his first start for Maker. He rebounded to finish second by a neck at odds of 10-1 behind favored Neptune's Storm in the one-mile Lure, also at Santa Anita.

Ft. Lauderdale Entries

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